330 more Indians return from Yemen

A father is overcome with emotion as he receives his daughter and granddaughter who arrived in Kochi from Yemen yesterday. The woman and her daughter were among the 130 Keralites brought back by an Air India flight.IANS/KochiAn Air India flight bringing back 330 Indians from Yemen arrived in Kochi early yesterday.Among them were 130 Keralites, including four children.The flight landed at 12.30am and by 1.30am, all from Kerala were out of the airport, R S Kannan, CEO of Roots-Norka, a state-owned body that looks after the welfare of expatriates from the state, said.“The rest of them proceeded to Mumbai. Fifty-six Keralites who landed in Mumbai last night will arrive in Kerala today. We gave all those who arrived here a token sum of Rs2000 and free transport facility to their home,” said Kannan. Two Indian Navy ships are awaiting security clearance to berth at Aden and another one is about to reach Al-Mukalla port in Yemen to bring back another batch of 750 Indians, Kannan said.He said two Indian aircraft had ferried stranded Indians from Sanaa to Djibouti. “We have been informed that about 500 Indians are awaiting for the arrival of two ships. As soon as the ships are given clearance, they will berth to enable Indians to board for their journey back home,” said Kannan.  He said another ship is on its way to Al-Mukalla port.“We are told that an aircraft will bring back Indians to Kochi and Mumbai from Djibouti at midnight today,” said Kannan. A nurse told reporters that the situation was serious in Al-Mukalla as terrorists have surrounded the hospital where they work. “All shops and establishments are closed in Al-Mukalla and we heard the sound of bomb explosions. The Indian government has act very fast,” the nurse said. Another nurse who did not wish to be identified said the situation was very grave.“There are so many Keralites waiting to return and yesterday, we were just 28 nurses who were on the flight. Had there been a second round of evacuation from Sanaa to Dijbouti from where we took off to here, another 400 people would have been able to come. We are told that today there will be an air evacuation from Sanaa airport,” said the nurse. Meanwhile, another person said the situation was really tough and there are around 8,000 Indians of which 6,000 are nurses and at the moment, only around 2,000 have been evacuated. “In Sanaa alone there are 4,000 Indians waiting to return,” said the returnee. Also yesterday a Kerala nurse still in Yemen told the media here by phone that they were all waiting to get to Aden port. “Yesterday, while we were on our way, there were gunshots on our vehicle. The tyres were hit and then we were forced to return. We are waiting to get to the port of Aden, where we are told that there is a ship waiting to take us back. We are all in prayers,” said the nurse. It was a scene straight out of a Bollywood potboiler - with bombs exploding and bullets flying, recalled a West Bengal resident who has returned from Yemen.“I can never forget the scenes I witnessed there. The way bombs were exploding and bullets were flying around, I had seen such scenes only in movies,” said S Zahirul who went to Aden two months back to work in the jewellery sector.Zahirul, a resident of Hooghly’s Haripal, said most of the workers had gone for days without food and water.Another returnee Safikul Rahman recounted the days of horror.“I can’t describe my feelings,” said the 22-year-old after reaching Howrah station on Friday.Spending sleepless nights without food and water, Rahman said he had lost all hope before the Indian authorities swung into action sending warships to rescue the stranded Indians and bring them to Mumbai.